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Google Shuts Down Map Maker Following Hacks
Errorcod3 writes: Google has temporarily shut down Map Maker while it works on a way to stop people from inserting pranks into its maps. A statement from Google explains that the service isn't going away, just shutting down while a new moderation system is worked on. "Given the current state of the system, we have come to the conclusion that it is not fair to any of our users to let them continue to spend time editing. Every edit you make is essentially going to a backlog that is growing very fast," Google's Pavithra Kanakarajan wrote. "We believe that it is more fair to only say that if we do not have the capacity to review edits at roughly the rate they come in, we have to take a pause. We have hence decided to temporarily disable editing across all countries starting Tuesday, May 12, 2015, till we have our moderation system back in action."
I think the usual theory is that good data will overwhelm bad data. The problem is that assumes that the people entering bad data are outnumbered by folks willing to put in the effort to put in good data. Essentially, that those who will add good data for fun outnumber those who will add bad data for fun. Unfortunately that is frequently not true.
TLDR: there are more assholes than hobbyist cartographers.
I consider this Rule #1 in any kind of development project: Never trust the user's input.
It doesn't matter if you told the user to select 1 to 10 and gave them a drop down box to choose the appropriate number. Don't trust that only numbers from 1 to 10 will be coming to your application. Check to make sure that the input is indeed a number and not "1; Delete from Users". Make sure that the number is within your 1 - 10 integer boundaries and not -1, 13, or 3.14159265. Only once the input has been fully vetted/sanitized should it be used.
Obviously, things get more complicated when you get up to Map Maker levels of complexity. You can't simply run IsNewDataValid(x). However, this is where you should have someone review the data for any obvious issues. It won't remove all abuses (people might sneak in graffiti using many small, innocuous-looking updates instead of one big one), but it can help stop major abuses. It also can slow down approvals of user data, but sometimes slow posting of data is preferable to letting everything through and then looking foolish when someone posts something inappropriate.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
TLDR: there are more assholes than hobbyist cartographers.
Why not develop a test to detect hobbyist cartographers?
They could start by requiring would-be submitters to prove their identity and use an Android device to visit the location to prove that they've physically been within the geographical neighborhood in the past 90 days, before they are able to submit edits to an area.
Next they should have some process by which good editors earn rank, and new users' submissions get reviewed by the community --- of course, whoever reviews them has to be someone who's visited the physical vicinity of the addition / edit.
If there has been a recent correction requested to the map; they can prompt other users of Google maps who map out a destination or approach an area, to please confirm if there is something wrong with the map.